Thomas Lafayette Marsalis (October 4, 1852 – April 20, 1919) was an American developer. With
John S. Armstrong John S. Armstrong (November 18, 1850 – April 26, 1908) was an American real estate developer. He was the co-founder (along with Thomas Marsalis) of the former City of Oak Cliff (now incorporated into Dallas) and founder of the town of Highland Par ...
, the founder of
Oak Cliff
Oak Cliff is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; Dallas annexed Oak Cliff in 1901. It has since retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older established neighborhoods.
Oak Cl ...
, he was one of the key developers of what is now known as the
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
area.
Early life
Marsalis was born in
Amite County, Mississippi
Amite County is a county located in the state of Mississippi on its southern border with Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,720. Its county seat is Liberty. The county is named after the Amite River, which runs through the ...
, near
New Orleans
New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
, Louisiana. The Marsalis family were
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
Reformed
Reform is beneficial change
Reform may also refer to:
Media
* ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang
* Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group
* ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine
*''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...
who had immigrated to North America in 1661. They had settled in New Jersey before Thomas Marsalis's grandfather moved to Mississippi.
Marsalis spent his childhood in Louisiana. He moved to
Corsicana, Texas
Corsicana is a city in Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 56 miles northeast of Waco, Texas. The population was 23,770 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Navarro County, and an important Agri-busines ...
, where Marsalis and a partner started a wholesale grocery house. In 1872 he moved to Dallas to start his own wholesale business. This was reportedly one of "the largest and most successful operations of its kind in the South, doing $750,000 worth of business annually by 1877."
Marsalis and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Josephine Crowdus, the daughter of a prominent Dallas physician and future mayor, married November 29, 1873. They had three children.
Business relations
John S. Armstrong John S. Armstrong (November 18, 1850 – April 26, 1908) was an American real estate developer. He was the co-founder (along with Thomas Marsalis) of the former City of Oak Cliff (now incorporated into Dallas) and founder of the town of Highland Par ...
and Marsalis became partners in 1884. They had four grocery warehouses in Dallas, which reportedly grossed more than $20 million a year.
Marsalis was exceedingly civic-minded. He organized the first fire company in Dallas. He also was the first to pave a city street in Dallas in 1881. The material:
bois d'arc
''Maclura pomifera'', commonly known as the Osage orange ( ), is a small deciduous tree or large shrub, native to the south-central United States. It typically grows about tall. The distinctive fruit, a multiple fruit, is roughly spherical, ...
blocks.
In 1887, Marsalis and Armstrong formed the Dallas Land and Loan Company, which purchased across the Trinity River from Dallas -- including Hord's Ridge and the Hord homestead -- to develop a new community. The area was named Oak Cliff. Development began in November 1887 when lots were auctioned by the company. An elevated railway was built, connecting Oak Cliff with the Dallas courthouse. The area was called a "beautiful suburb of Dallas."
With two successful successive auctions, Marsalis decided to take several lots off the market. He had hoped this would increase their price. Armstrong objected and immediately dissolved the partnership, taking the grocery concerns; Marsalis took the real estate holdings.
Marsalis continued developing Oak Cliff, including investing $500,000 of his own money for the land and various improvements, including streets, a waterworks, and electric plant. He built various amenities designed to position Oak Cliff as a resort destination. These included the Park Hotel, a huge four-story Victorian hotel, and mineral baths. There was a public bath project planned at Kidd Springs, and, in various promotional material, the area was compared to Cambridge, Massachusetts. He reportedly spent a total of million dollars promoting the new development.
Ruthmeade Place is another area Marsalis sought to develop. This was the second addition of the Dallas Land and Loan Company. Delayed by the 1893 depression, Ruthmeade Place was annexed to the city in 1889; however, development did not begin in earnest until 1905. The houses in the area were wood frame bungalows, predominantly Craftsman or Prairie style. There were a few Victorian homes in the development, one of which is now on the city preservation society's "Most Endangered" list.
Oak Cliff incorporated in 1890. The population was about 3,000 residents.
Marsalis, by this point in time, had invested almost $1 million in his city. He was a founder of and president of the Oak Cliff Hotel Company, Oak Cliff Light and Power Company, Oak Cliff Water Supply Company, and Dallas and Oak Cliff Railroad Company, in addition to continuing to oversee the Dallas Land and Loan Company. Development abruptly stopped thanks to the
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the pres ...
and Marsalis was financially ruined. He went bankrupt and sold all his interests in his various companies, including the Park Hotel. When the economy declined, he was forced to lease the structure to M. Thomas Edgerton, who planned to open a girls' school. This would become Oak Cliff College for Young Ladies.
Oak Cliff was ultimately annexed by the city of Dallas in 1903.
Latter life and death
According to the ''Handbook of Texas Online'', not much was known or had been published about the remainder of Marsalis's life; he moved to New York and reportedly died in poverty some years later. The precise location and date of his death remained unknown. Genealogists and historians have pieced together where Marsalis spent his last years. He died April 20, 1919, in Paterson, NJ and is buried in Cedar Lawn Cemetery
According to ''Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas'', the 1910 Census shows his residence as New York City while local papers announced his death in
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Marsalis Park and Zoo. The zoo permanently relocated to the site in from Fair Park in 1912.
Honors
A street running next to the
Dallas Zoo
Dallas Zoo aka Dallas Zoological Park is a zoo located south of downtown Dallas, Texas, in Marsalis Park. Established in 1888, it is the oldest and largest zoological park in Texas and is managed by the non-profit Dallas Zoological Society. It ...
Texas State Historical Association
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, on March 2, 1897. , TSHA moved their offices from Austin to the University of N ...